Music Blog 7/31/2010

Get ‘em Over, Get ‘em In by Paul Thomas (from Diamond Cuts Vol X: Extra Innings, Hungry for Music, 2008)

Getting ‘em over is harder than it sounds, even when there aren’t several thousand Public Radio fans watching as you (meaning our esteemed host, Bill) throw out the first pitch without warning or practice. My advice is to err on the side of overthrowing. There’s nothing weaker than a pitch in the dirt, which Bill (to his credit) did not do.

Il Duce by Big Black (from The Wailing Ultimate, Homestead Records, 1987)

Perhaps the lyrics to this song don’t offer the most in-depth look into the life of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, but they do contain the hilariously understated line “I am Benito. And I like my job”. Nice work from a band not usually known for understatement.

Moonlight on Vermont by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band (from The Dust Blows Forward, Rhino, 1999)

Courtesy of some of the best pseudonyms in rock music:

Antennae Jimmy Semens

Zoot Horn Rollo

Rockette Morton

Drumbo

And, of course, Captain Beefheart

Winged Eel Fingerling, sadly, was not present on this recording.

The Man in Me by Bob Dylan (from New Morning, Columbia, 1970)

In retrospect, this song was destined to be on the Big Lebowski Soundtrack, wasn’t it? I said so back then…when I was 8 years old…